This was one of the hardest things for me. I spent the first week after my bad news keeping a journal of everything I ate and drank. I didn't change anything right away, but I kept a note pad in the kitchen and wrote down everything I ate and drank. Then, I went to the Internet and figured out the number of calories that I was consuming. One thing that I have noticed is that people get wrapped up in the fat content of this food or that food and fat is a problem. People also tend to get absorbed into the caloric content of things and that's important too, but it isn't the whole picture.
Our bodies need fats and calories to survive. We need most of the things in food to stay healthy, so don't get too wrapped up in what has what right now, just keep a list of what you consume and go to the Internet and get the nutritional information so that you know. Once you've spent that first week doing this, take a deep breath, relax from the shock of how many calories you consume and take action.
Taking Action
What I'm advocating here is nothing really new. Part of the reason there is an obesity epidemic in America is our lifestyles are not designed for healthy living. We are too busy and too wrapped up in everything else to take time out for our health. If we don't do it now, no matter how old we are, how busy we were when we were healthy won't matter a bit. So, it's time to take action.
The average person needs around 2,000 calories to maintain a healthy weight. There are several calculators on the Internet that will help you decide how many calories you need to maintain your current weight. Remember to check with your doctor to see what they say, but in general if you want to lose weight cut no more than ten percent of your calories. It is very easy to cut too many and damage yourself. So, be careful, but generally you are safe if you cut from five to ten percent.
Then you need to take a look at the kinds of calories that you take in. Calories from carbohydrates are fine, but not all carbs are created equal. Whole grains are better than processed grains. Do your best to take your calories from carbohydrates from whole grains rather than processed grains. Also, think about some other things. Corn is not a vegetable. It is almost purely carbohydrate. White rice is not nearly as good for you as brown rice and wild rice (with the husks on) is best. So, take a look at your carb intake and the kinds of carbs you take in.
Carbs are not your enemy; in fact your body needs them to operate properly. But, in my case, I was taking in about 500 grams of carbs a day when I only need about 300. Many of those carbs were coming from things that we just don't think about that much. Corn, beans, pasta and the worst of all, alcohol. The average full flavor beer has between thirteen and fifteen grams of carbs per serving. Six beers is nearly a third of your daily allowance for carbs. So, if you add on the potato chips, bread from your lunch, pasta from your supper and the bagel from your breakfast you quickly approach your daily limit. So, count the carbs and limit them to "good" carbs from whole grains. Alcohol intake should be kept to no more than one drink a day for women and two drinks a day for men.
Protein is critical to alleviate hunger. However, protein from red meat is accompanied by large amounts of saturated fat. Pork, fish and chicken are your best options for protein unless, like me, you switch to mostly soy protein. This isn't your mom's tofu anymore. Soy protein comes in many forms and most of it tastes pretty good. I still don't like tofu, but the rest of it isn't bad. Dairy is also a good source of protein, but I try to stay away from it, because of the saturated fat.
Fruits and vegetables are the kings of weight loss. We all know this, but rarely do we take the time to recognize it. Here are the guidelines that I use for fruits and vegetables. Fresh over frozen over canned. Canned fruits and vegetables often have very high sodium or sugar levels and most of us don't need more salt or sugar.
Processed sugar is basically not something you need. If you must have it though, limit it to very small quantities. Humans crave sugar, but it isn't good for us. In small quantities, it is not a problem, but remember that sugar contains carbohydrates. Remember the hidden carbs?
